


Welcome Home

by larynth



Category: DCU - Comicverse, Red Robin (Comics), Superboy (Comic)
Genre: M/M, Timkon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-26
Updated: 2013-04-26
Packaged: 2017-12-09 13:23:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/774695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/larynth/pseuds/larynth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Conner wakes up to find himself in an unknown place. A few moments later, he sees Tim in a way he hasn't before-- However, that comes at a price.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Welcome Home

**Author's Note:**

> FANDOM: Batman
> 
> PAIRINGS/CHARACTERS: Tim Drake / Conner Kent
> 
> RATING: death (-ish)

”Tim, Do you read?” Conner had blacked out, only waking up to find himself in some sort of crystalline room that had lights dancing around it. His head was still shaky, but he was able to hold his ground when he stood up. The situation would only get worse if he was unable to make contact with Tim.  
And then he turned, slowly, scanning the room, trying to make sense of the place. It didn’t look like there was an exit. ”Tim, come in!”, he repeated, once more, more panicky than the last time, and then, shock. His blue eyes widened, at what he saw, who he saw. “How..?” He was in disbelief. It was Tim. This wasn’t right. He wasn’t supposed to be able to really see Tim, Timothy Drake. But Tim was here, walking towards him, albeit rather slowly. Bright blue, almost white, eyes, in, no, not his Robin attire, or his Red Robin costume, it looked like some technological suit, data transfering from one part to him to another, as if wires were his veins and the data was blood. He looked almost translucent, and he glowed. 

“Oh, I’m the strangest thing you’ve seen all day?” Tim inquired, an amused tone prevalent in his voice. Tim was just inches away from Conner now, though they didn’t touch. He had smiled at first, which had always been rare, but the smile was quickly replaced with a stern look, though it was mostly… sad. 

“But if we’re here—” 

“It worked. You did it. Just like you always do.” Tim assured.

“So how do we get out of here?” Conner placed his hands to his hips. He still didn’t see any way out, not even up. He could’ve flown them up, but it was blocked. Maybe he’d be able to punch the ceiling. However, he waited for Tim’s answer, he probably knew a better way.

Tim paused for a moment, looking as if he was gathering momentum. He opened his mouth, and closed it again. Conner gave him a look, as if saying, “Well?”. Tim had kept his eyes on Conner this entire time, but he faltered now, looking down, blinking. “I’m not coming with you this time.” And although his voice was still calm and even, his eyebrows were burrowed, creases on his forehead only too evident. Most of all, he looked like he was in pain, as if uttering those words were toxic, poison. Fatal.

“What?” Conner asked, taking a step back, unable to register what Tim had said. Tim couldn’t have meant what he said, right? It was one of his double-meaning statements that always had Conner do a double-take. Because Tim was making it look like it was only Conner was getting out of here. That was unacceptable. He wouldn’t allow it. He could feel his face pale, his being shake. It couldn’t be. “Most of me is down there. I only held enough back to get you off the ship.” Tim kept his eyes locked down, though he moved his arm downward, pointing towards the rubble that was on the undersurface of the now wrecked ship. His voice was full of sadness, regret and hopelessness. Conner could see, in the corners of Tim’s white-blue eyes, what looked like tears forming.

Conner was not going to accept that. “No, that’s not—” His hand slashed the air. Conner shook his head, denying, he would find a way, “We go together.” The resigned look on Tim’s face was painful to look at. Even if Tim were to say he was ready, Conner wasn’t. He tried to sound assured, but his eyes were full of uncertainty. 

“It’s already done.” resignation. 

“I am not leaving you here.” repudiation

“Conner…” Tim finally closed in on Conner, his hand rested on Conner’s chest. He let out a shaky sigh, “I’ve waited so long to do that.” Conner knew what Tim meant. They had never, not, at least, in Tim’s Artifical-Intelligence-but-with-feelings-holographic-like life, touched. But now they had. And are. Conner bit his lip, putting an arm around Tim’s figure and pulling him close that his head rested on the Kryptonian’s chest. Like this, Conner could hear his heart actually beat. It was a heart beat that he wouldn ever let himself forget. His grip on Tim tightened, not wanting to let go. For once they can actually hold each other, touch and it is all so new to both of them. It all just seems and feels impossible. Another shaky sigh, a whimper more now, Conner could feel Tim’s shoulders rise and fall. He was crying. 

“It was my job to take care of you!”

“We were supposed to take care of each other,” Tim pushed himself off Conner, just a little, and looked up at the boy. Their eyes met, bright and pale blues, “and we did.” His voice had gone high, on the verge of crying more, but he stopped himself. The smaller boy smiled, the saddest smile Conner had ever seen, but it was also filled with something, like love. But he started to back away, letting go of Conner’s hands. And to Conner, it felt empty, the smooth, soft, almost ghostly hands that escaped his rough ones. 

“Tim, please… Wait—!” Conner wasn’t ready. His hand reached out for Tim, begging him to stay, but his feet wouldn’t budge. His breathing escalated, and he felt like he was going to have some sort of attack right there and then. ‘Please, please, please, god, no. Please. Don’t leave me. I’ll take care of you! Let me take care of you—’ He felt the tears run down his face. He was breaking down. 

Tim was already several feet from Conner now. He wasn’t saying anything, resolving to just keeping his eyes fixed on Conner. Because he wanted to remember Conner, he wanted his last memories to be of him, he wanted the last thing for him to see to be Conner. Because he had chosen Conner. And even now, he did not regret that decision and everything that came with it. He hated, loathed, abhored not being able to help Conner right now. More than anything, he wanted to run back into his arms, to touch Conner again, to help the man who had proved to be his partner through out the years. 

It was funny that they never really confirmed their relationship. Most of the time, they had had only joked about it, though it was mostly Tim joking about it. But it was obvious, even to the other Titans, that they had formed some sort of connection, and in turn relation, with each other. Tim and Conner knew it as well. And Tim knew that it wasn’t that they weren’t ready to admit anything, or deny anything. They just didn’t need to say it. They had been that sure.

Timothy hurt now, because Conner was going to have to live with this. But this was the only way. Conner had to live. This was the final mission, the last straw, at least in a very long while. It was Conner’s way home and Tim wanted, needed, Conner to have that.

“Welcome home, Kon.”

Conner stood there, still, so still, in absolute shock and tears and despair, as he watched Timothy just disappear into the cryallin walls. And as he did, disappear, the walls started crumbling. But as the walls crumbled, so did Conner’s heart, his world, his self, his partner, his Tim. Conner put no effort in moving. He just stood there, watching nothing. Tim wasn’t there anymore. That was it.

More walls crumbled, the ceiling too. Conner looked up as the ground shook. And then he blacked out. 

—-

“Attention, Justice League? We found him.”

**Author's Note:**

> Heavily based off of the ending of Halo.


End file.
